KOMODO DRAGON

There is evidence that the evolutionary development of the Komodo dragon originated in Australia roughly 3.8 million years ago. They once lived across a huge range, spanning Indonesia’s islands and Australia, but since the 1970s, Komodo National Park (KNP) has been the only place in the world where they can be found.

There is evidence that the evolutionary development of the Komodo dragon originated in Australia roughly 3.8 million years ago. They once lived across a huge range, spanning Indonesia’s islands and Australia, but since the 1970s, Komodo National Park (KNP) has been the only place in the world where they can be found. Komodo dragons are at the top of the food chain on the islands with groups of them even attacking Indonesian villages. Because of the conflict between humans and komodo dragons, the population of komodo dragons that are living on the island is labeled as vulnerable and is almost to the point of being endangered and land such as the komodo national park is being set aside to reduce the rate at which the population is declining. 

Fossil evidence from Australia, Timor, Flores, Java, and India shows Komodo dragons originated in Australia and then dispersed westward. Australia has been home to giant lizards for millions of years, including the five-meter Megalania and the three-meter Komodo dragon, which coexisted. This new fossil evidence challenges prior hypotheses explaining the Komodo dragon’s large size — namely, the "island effect" (evolutionary size changes due to island living) and the idea that Komodo dragons evolved to hunt small island elephants (pygmy Stegodons). These older hypotheses are now considered unlikely based on the new research findings.